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Zinal the Bystander, Part 2
ZINAL’S PERSPECTIVE
JUSS TIED UP the unconscious clergymen with some rope.
“Wait, Juss!”
“What?”
“Sorry, but can you untie them for a bit? I want to look them over,” I said.
Juss gave me a funny look. That was when I remembered he hadn’t been doing any secret work in a while.
“We recently found some clergymen with summoning circles carved on their bodies,” I explained. “Maybe these guys have them, too.”
Juss’s eyes widened. “Summoning circles on their bodies? Is that even a thing?”
I guess you would have to see something like that for yourself to believe it, because why would anybody carve something so terrifying into their own body? From the lack of shock on Galtos’s face, he clearly already knew that intel, but he was eyeing me with a dubious frown.
“Yeah, it’s a thing,” I replied.
Juss loosened the ropes and pulled up their clothes. We also rolled up their pants to check their legs, but there were no summoning circles to be found.
“No summoning circles,” Galtos said.
“Yeah, that’s a good thing.” I nodded and put their clothes back on. “Go ahead, Juss.”
“Hey, Zinal, did you find Rulu’s remains?” Juss asked me as he tied up the men.
“There was nothing to find. All his personal effects were destroyed, and we didn’t even find anything where his body was. All he left behind were the things buried behind that cliff wall.”
“Okay…”
The guild master was murdered in the forest, not in a cave, and his body was just carelessly dumped there. We looked around, hoping that if we couldn’t find his bones, at least we might find anything he had on his body at the time…but there weren’t even traces of the corpse itself. Whenever a corpse was left in the forest, monsters trashed it. That was probably why the guild master’s assistant had dumped the body there.
“By the way, what happened to the scumbag who lured the guild master into the forest?” Galtos asked. “I don’t think he was with the prisoners.”
Juss shook his head at Galtos in reply. Just then, I remembered Galtos had arrived behind schedule, so he still hadn’t been briefed on everything.
“Rulu’s detractors took his little sister hostage,” I told him.
“Wow, really? Did she get saved?” Galtos asked.
Juss clenched his fist. “When she found out it was her fault that her big brother betrayed Rulu…she died. She was sickly to begin with. And her older brother was so tormented with guilt over what happened to her and his role in it that he killed himself. Their uncle found the letters they both left and gave them to me.”
The uncle in question was somebody Juss had saved from a nobleman in the past, which must have been why he entrusted Juss with the letters. It was scary to think what might have happened if those letters had fallen into the wrong hands.
“Well, what a shame… Ah, so that’s why the order changed to ‘Capture everyone alive.’”
Galtos nodded in approval. The first order we received from our secret employer was “Expose the truth and capture the criminals—dead or alive.” But in light of the new information, the order was changed to “Don’t kill anybody—bring everyone to me alive.” The order not to kill was not made out of mercy. The person pulling our strings was anything but merciful toward criminals. The reason they were to be brought back alive was “Killing them ends their suffering too quickly.”
What a terrifying employer I have…though I’m happily obeying the orders.
“If our employer hadn’t ordered me not to, I would have killed them myself.” Juss sneered bitterly into the forest. He and the guild master were friends and had worked together many times. The reason he’d come to Okanke Village in the first place was because he sensed foul play when he heard the guild master had died.
“I’m really glad you came here, Juss,” I assured him.
Their uncle had apparently been really torn over what to do with their letters. If he handed them to somebody on the wrong side, that might get his family killed. But he knew trying to flee the village with his family would absolutely get them killed. He was even considering pretending he didn’t see the letters, if things really went south. But when Juss happened to find him then, he decided to entrust the letters to him, which must have taken a lot of courage. Even though Juss had helped him in the past, there was no guarantee he was still a good person. But apparently, the mere fact that Juss wasn’t from Okanke Village was enough to earn his trust.
“Oh? Somebody’s coming our way.”
Probably trying to run and hide in the village. I don’t think that’s happening, buddy. I looked at the gate, the only entrance to the village.
“Looks like telling the gatekeepers to hole themselves up inside today was the right call,” I said.
Juss smiled. “Sure was. I didn’t get why you said it at the time, but now that I’m seeing it, I know that was the way to go.”
Our eyes were turned toward the serpent sitting in front of the gate. Noticing the approaching presence, the serpent rose up and slithered its tongue. Its sharp eyes peered into the trees.
“I know it’s not gonna attack us, but I’m still terrified,” Galtos said. Juss nodded dumbly.
“They’re very cute, apparently.” I relayed Ivy’s words, chuckling at the pair.
What did she say again? Something like, “Just look at their big round eyes and the little tongue slithering out of their big mouths—isn’t it cute?” To be honest, I don’t see it at all. No matter how you slice it, the serpents give off a ferocious image, and that red tongue slithering out of their mouth shackles you in terror.
“They’re what?!” The pair gasped at me in disbelief.
This time, I couldn’t help but laugh loudly. The serpent eyed me, but all that time with Ivy had made me immune to its terror. It was funny when I remembered how my back broke out in a cold sweat the first time. Wait a minute…was Ivy transforming me?
“Agh! It’s looking at us,” Juss hissed.
I put a big smile on my face and waved at the serpent, who answered by waving a little right and left.
“Zinal…you really are amazing,” Galtos said.
I looked at Galtos in confusion. He was staring back and forth between me and the serpent.
“What’s so amazing about me?”
“Um, how can you act so calm around a serpent?”
How can I act so calm? Well…because that’s how Ivy acts around them. Whenever she meets the serpents’ gazes, she happily waves at them. And she pets their noses and pats their bodies softly, hugs them, rides them… That’s right, I remember one time she stuck her head in a serpent’s mouth because she wondered what their teeth were like. That’s why it never felt strange… And that terrifying tongue? Well, I can’t ever see it as cute, but I’m not scared of it anymore.
I chuckled softly. Being with Ivy really had changed me a little.
“What’s so funny?”
“I dunno.”
Galtos and Juss eyed me with subtle looks of disgust on their faces. Rude.
Rustle, rustle!
The trees shook violently nearby as a man flew out of them. His aura had told me he was coming…and now we knew it was the assistant’s right-hand man.
“What the—how—?!” His face twisted in fear when he saw us.
Rustle, rustle!
“Ahh! Help me!”
There was a shaking in the trees behind us, and a man fell over while trying to run toward us.
“Help you? When you boys ran away from us?” Juss demanded.
The man shook his head, his eyes nervously darting behind him. What’s his name again? I think it’s Bol? No, Bonan? Hol?
“Those bastards are attacking me!”
The shaking trees were coming nearer and nearer. Wow, they were shaking the trees so violently before, but now they’re taking it slow. Yes, good. That does ramp up the suspense.
“And who are those bastards?” I asked innocently.
The man glared. “As if you can’t see them! Come on, help me!”
Hey, don’t take it out on me.
“Sorry, but it serves you right for trying to run. It’s hardly fair to blame it on us.” Juss shook his head with a heavy sigh.
Rustle! Rustle!
“Eep! I don’t care anymore! Just let me in the village! They’re gonna eat me!”
“Nah, I don’t think they’ll eat you, buddy.”
If they wanted to eat you, they would’ve done it already. Now, how did you escape those ropes when you were caught? If you just thought about it rationally, you’d have realized something was up. Then again, I guess it’s hard to think rationally when giant serpents are chasing you.
Rustle!
The serpent’s face poked out of the trees.
“Ahhh!”
Screaming, the man tried to run away on his wobbly limbs and wound up crawling on the ground.
“Man, this hurts to watch,” Juss said.
The serpent stuck its head out from the branches and nodded, causing Juss and Galtos to shoot startled looks at me.
“Yeah, don’t ask me. You’re seeing it for yourself. The serpents understand us.”
The serpent quietly hovered its face over the man as he crawled on the ground, then lowered its face toward his back.
“GRAAAAGH!”
The man’s screech was just so pathetic that I had to laugh.
“Krr-krr-krr-krr!”
I turned around at the strange noise and noticed it was coming from the serpent, whose eyes narrowed to slits as it poked the man with its nose.
“It’s playing…” Juss observed.
“Sure is.” I smiled back. The serpents were having a lot of fun with this little operation.
“Should be any minute now…”
About thirty minutes had passed since the criminals had escaped. I needed to catch them one more time and give them a present. I reached into my magic bag and pulled out a pile of slave bands. Slave bands were ordinarily prohibited until sentencing, but there were exceptions, such as if the criminals attempted to escape.
“Sorry, boys, but you tried to run away, so you’ll need to wear these.”
These were special slave bands for escapees, so they wouldn’t be able to cause any more harm. They also couldn’t run away or talk, so they could be quietly transported—they were an excellent product. Perfection.
I petted the noses of the two serpents who approached me. What a smooth, soothing sensation it was. But I’m sorry, Ivy. There’s no way I could ever think their nostrils are cute.